The present invention relates to an inflation type safety system for motor vehicles, and more particularly, to a hybrid inflator capable of quickly inflating an airbag.
In recent years, with development of inflator for use in an inflation type safety system for motor vehicles, hybrid inflator which utilizes pressurized gas and solid gas generating agent in combination is attracting attention. A primary requirement for the design of such hybrid inflator is to inflate the airbag by a given amount in a given time to make the airbag operate effectively, and various structures therefor have been proposed hitherto (see Unexamined JP-A No. 8-282427, for example). Since the hybrid inflator is applied to a motor vehicle, the weight of the motor vehicle constitutes an important design requirement, so that the weight and dimensions of the inflator are important factors in the design. Also, there is a demand for inflators that can be manufactured easily, can be easily and reliably mounted to motor vehicles, can be easily filled with gas, and free of gas leak.
The present invention was created to fulfill the above requirements, and an object thereof is to provide a hybrid inflator which has a structure permitting the inflator to be easily and reliably mounted to an airbag module, compared to conventional inflators, easily welded during the manufacture, and improved in gas sealability and reduced in weight.
The present invention provides a hybrid inflator for an inflation type safety system for a motor vehicle equipped with an airbag, comprising an inflator housing, pressurized gas contained in the inflator housing, a gas generator housing connected to the inflator housing and provided with at least one gas generator outlet, a solid gas generating agent contained in the gas generator housing, and an initiator adapter for igniting the gas generating agent to produce propellant gas, wherein the hybrid inflator is characterized in that the adapter comprises a boss welded to an edge portion of the inflator housing, and that an outer end portion of the boss has a flange shape for mounting an airbag module. The outer surface of the flange portion of the boss is formed as a planar surface and a pressurized gas charging hole is bored so as to extend from the surface to the interior of the inflator housing. The charging hole is sealed by a pin inserted therein as a sealing member after the gas is charged.
The present invention also provides an airbag device production method applied to a hybrid inflator for an inflation type safety system for a motor vehicle equipped with an airbag, the hybrid inflator comprising an inflator housing, pressurized gas contained at least in the inflator housing, a gas generator housing connected to the inflator housing and provided with at least one gas generator outlet, a gas generating agent contained in the gas generator housing and ignited by an initiator, and an inflator operation assembly containing the initiator for operating the inflator, wherein the method is characterized in that the inflator operation assembly comprises a boss welded to an end portion of the inflator housing to hermetically seal the housing, an edge of the boss having a flange shape, and the hybrid inflator being mounted to a module via the flange of the boss.